The truth about Linsday Lohan… and The Snake Charmer.

The media love to talk about anything that diverts our attention from the oil spill, and nothing says diversion like celebrities in a downward spiral. Why do we care about Mel Gibson’s problems? It’s an interesting way to have something in common with your fellow men and women, like the life-web in Avatar… interesting that what draws us together is something so sad for the person in the center of the circle, no? Someone smarter than me should write a paper on that.

Another celebrity that makes constant headlines is the lovely and unfortunately troubled Lindsay Lohan. I actually don’t know anything about Lindsay, except that I had a dream about her two weeks ago where I took her to meet my parents (not kidding), and that in this dream she was much shorter in person than I would have thought her to be (not kidding, either).

As this dream was posted on my Facebook feed, I took my friend Stuart Goldberg’s email about flying out to meet with Lindsay Lohan as a gentle ribbing. Little did I know…

Chicago criminal defense attorney, Stuart V. Goldberg, is the latest individual to get wrapped up in actress Lindsay Lohan’s legal woes. Lohan–who was sentenced to 90 days in jail last week after violating her parole–personally called Goldberg on Friday and he spent seven hours talking to Lohan and her mother and sister. Lohan also asked Goldberg to fly out to Los Angeles, he revealed to the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’re at the courting stage,” Goldberg said to the Sun-Times. He said he was “here to help” and described Lohan as an “exquisite, flawed, broken woman-child.” (From chicagoist.com.)

Stuart was an attorney involved in the courts during Operation Greylord, and for those of you who don’t know, this was like Watergate for the Chicago Court System. The cover was pulled back, and the rotting corruption was revealed- people were jailed, judges committed suicide. More on the FBI site here.

INVESTIGATIONS OF PUBLIC CORRUPTION: Rooting Crookedness Out of Government

Fast forward, and Stuart writes a book about the experience of coming up in this corrupt system. And the title of the book? I’ll give you a hint, courtesy of examiner.com:

“Lindsay Lohan says that she turned Goldberg down because she didn’t like his style. TMZ gives the example of his vanity license plates which say “Snake Charmer”.

Who turned down who is a different story from each camp. But if a license plate for The Snake Charmer is an example of not liking someone’s style, then count me in. Because not only is there no doubt that a lawyer with a record like Stuart Goldberg would have been a gift from Heaven in a case like this, what the Lohans use as an example of “eccentric” is a testament to character… Because do you know what that license plate means?

The Snake Charmer is a constant reminder to Goldberg of the struggle to remain pure within the legal system. I asked him to explain where the title came from, and he shares with me a moment her experienced in court as a brand new lawyer:

THE SNAKE CHARMER comes from the moment the CPD officer called me over to the window, reminded me of how a fire ravaged Chicago was rebuilt, and pointed at the burgeoning skyline of the city. In embodying the city’s corruption and ability to constantly reinvent herself, he said, “She’s like the snake. She sheds her skin and constantly reinvents herself.” then he laid out that I would have to pay the venal price of corruption to play ball and be a criminal lawyer. To survive…I had to become the SNAKE CHARMER to live in that corruption.

I’ve been thrilled to be able to help Stuart getting his ducks in a row with his book, it’s a truly powerful story and I am certain that it will establish him as a voice that history will show that Chicago was proud to claim as her own.

To hear the unbelievable experiences of this man’s life, to be able to feel what he felt through the power of his words on the page, it’s a perspective to this important story in Chicago history that we couldn’t ever get from a newspaper or a history book. And you know who else agrees?

Stuart V. Goldberg and Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx loves the book, and wants to see a movie made with him in the role of Michael, a character with more great turns of phrase than any actor could wish for.

Stuart Goldberg’s first book, THE ONE AND ONLY, is available now on Amazon and to use a Hollywood trick of comparison, I define it as: “James Bond meets Raiders of the Lost Ark meets The Red Violin…”

One Response to “The truth about Linsday Lohan… and The Snake Charmer.”

Lindsay needed Stuart not only for legal expertise but for his persona. He commands attention and having this gift, judges listen to him. Like many things I’ve read about lindsay over the years, she surrounds herself with weak people who succumb to her wishes and demands. what she needs si someone who can provide guidance, strength of character and wisdom. she needs to find someone has the qualities to look out for her interests as well as her well being without faltering or giving in to her fodder or commands. this person must have business acumen as well as be a person of people but yet have the will and strength of a Sampson. If lindsay were guided and assisted by a person like this, she would not be facing or find herself in the situations she winds up in.